Chum Ming

Chum Ming was a Chinese immigrant miner in the United States during the California Gold Rush. On 12 May 1848, while working as a merchant, he heard Samuel Brannan's announcement that gold had been struck at Sutter's Mill in Sacramento, so he immediately wrote to his cousin Cheong Yim and asked him to join him in the gold fields. Ming himself struck gold near Sutter's Mill and wrote to his family to tell them of his success, leading to more Chinese coming to the United States; in 1852, 20,000 Chinese arrived, 2,000 coming in one day. In Canton, a letter was circulated encouraging more men to come to the "Gold Mountain" of California, where they promised plenty of money and no soldiers or mandarins.